


knock, knock. who's there? not a murderer, hopefully

by SkinnyPlease



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), But with a happy ending!!, College AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Langst, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Pining Lance (Voltron), Professor Coran, i guess mentioned Adam/Shiro, keith is a dumb idiot but so is lance so it's like fine, shiro doesn't really show up i didn't know how to put him in :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24046357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkinnyPlease/pseuds/SkinnyPlease
Summary: It starts with a Facebook message:Pidge Holt > Garrison University SophomoresNeed one more roommate for a four-room apartment this summer. PM if interested.2 likes – 0 commentsorThe one where Lance thinks Keith is a murderer at first (but like, a cute one), Pidge is 100% done, Hunk is still the best, and Allura is still smarter than everyone else.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 182





	knock, knock. who's there? not a murderer, hopefully

**Author's Note:**

> so basically i'm trying to get back into writing. this kinda got away from me, i swear it was meant to be shorter lol. i haven't actually watched this show in like a very hawt minute and i think i stopped at like season 5 sooooo...i apologize in advance if anyone is ooc. hope you enjoy. :)

**May**

It starts with a Facebook message:

**_Pidge Holt > Garrison University Sophomores_ **

_Need one more roommate for a four-room apartment this summer. PM if interested._

**2 likes – 0 comments**

“You can’t just put this out here for a bunch of RANDOS! What if a _murderer_ moves into our apartment?” Lance immediately protests upon seeing the post.

Pidge huffs and suppresses their eyeroll. “We already discussed this. We need another roommate and posting a Facebook message in a group for students from our school isn’t exactly like picking someone up from the street.”

“When did we discuss this??”

“When you were ogling that barista,” Hunk chimes in.

Lance grumbles something about how he wasn’t really ogling and goes back to scrolling on his phone, albeit looking less resistant than before.

They’re all sitting in the aforementioned apartment’s living room, which is connected to four single bedrooms and a small kitchen. Even though they technically don’t start renting it for a month the landlord is pretty lenient (Lance swears it’s because of his “natural charms.” Hunk and Pidge disagree) and let them move in some of their stuff early even while they’re still situated in the on-campus dorms as the semester comes to a close. The apartment itself is slightly cramped, especially for four people, but not cramped enough for mostly broke college students to complain. Besides, they’ll only need it for three months of the summer and it’s close enough to Garrison University that they won’t have to rely on a car. They had first found it out of necessity when Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura were accepted to the summer research program at the university with Professor Coran. But, Allura had ended up rejecting the offer to accept a more prestigious research position at Altea College. Professor Coran was thrilled, Pidge was neutral, Hunk was supportive, and Lance wouldn’t stop calling her a “traitor” until Pidge finally told him to stop being so dramatic and that he was hurting her feelings. He had sheepishly apologized, and she reminded him they’d still call every weekend and she could always drive the two hours to visit. However, this meant that the trio ultimately needed a replacement roommate. Thus the search began.

It turned out to be a very short search, as Pidge only received two responses to their post and one was outright rejected because, as Lance put it, “She looks like she’ll actually eat our flesh and enjoy it…also she can’t even spell interested right and you think she’ll pay rent on time?!” Which, as Hunk pointed out, those actions really had nothing to do with each other. Lance was unswayed. So Pidge invited over the only remaining candidate, some guy named Keith who simply messaged: “Interested. Rent isn’t an obstacle.”

-

“I’m telling you he could definitely be a murderer! He doesn’t even have a Facebook profile picture. And who ever says they don’t care about rent? It could all be ruse to lure us into a false sense of security before BAM we’re his next victims. Maybe we shouldn’t have turned away the flesh eater…”

“Lance, you were the one that rejected her in the first place! We need this rent money so if you chase him away, _I swear to God-”_

He throws up his hands. “WHOA okay, okay. No need to get feisty.” Pidge continues to glare, and Lance continues to mutter about the ways this roommate could kill them.

Hunk sighs but doesn’t intervene, he's focusing instead on the front door which Keith is supposed to knock on in approximately three minutes. The trio had thought to come early to greet him and put the place in semi-order, but it ended up with Lance just freaking out and babbling for twenty minutes, Pidge getting increasingly annoyed at this freak out, and Hunk vacuuming. Lance is almost too caught up in his own murderer-possibilities spiral to notice the subtle _knock, knock_ on the door.

“I’ll get it!” he exclaims, suddenly springing into action before Pidge and Hunk even have time to react.

He pulls open the door forcefully and _whoa._ “Well, if you do turn out to be a murder at least you’re a hot one.” 

The guy – Keith – takes a second to react, before his previously neutral features twist into a scowl. “I’m sorry, what?”

Pidge swoops in quickly, pushing Lance aside with more force than he thought they possessed. “Ignore this huge idiot, please come sit down.”

Keith spares Lance one more glance, distaste clear in his dark eyes. Hunk ushers Keith in and onto their couch, sitting next to him, Pidge takes the recliner seat next to the TV across from them, and Lance remains standing.

“So,” they start, “I’m Pidge, the big guy is Hunk, and the idiot is Lance -” Lance huffs at that but is too distracted by how fricking pretty Keith is to actually protest, “- and this is our apartment. You can take a look around, but you’ll see it’s pretty small. We would share the living room and kitchen appliances and we’ve already made a rotating chores list that we can add you to. You would have a room to yourself, though. The contract we have right now is just renting from June first to the end of August. I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s decently priced.”

Keith appears to take in the room, “I’m Keith. I honestly just need a place, so whatever works. I’m in.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lance finally speaks up. “Are we really letting in this guy so easily?”

Keith raises an eyebrow, but it’s Pidge who responds. “What are your pressing questions then, Lance?”

“Well, first of all,” Lance leans right into Keith’s space, “are you a murderer?”

“For Christ's sake,” Pidge groans, burying their head in their hands.

Usually, people find Lance’s antics funny. Or at least don’t take them too seriously. Keith does not appear to have either reaction.

“No,” he says.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Lance says, leaning in even further. From this close, he can see the smattering of small freckles across Keith’s cheeks. 

“Yes, asshole.”

“Whoaaaa, no need to get all huffy about it, mullet-head! That’s a basic get-to-know-you question!” 

“Mullet-head?” 

“I mean, did you ask for that specifically or did someone just make a haircut oopsie?”

Keith glowers even more, “At least I don’t carry myself like a peacock.” 

And oh, _it is so on_. “What does that even mean? And fingerless gloves, man? What are you, some rejected biker?” 

They’re both glaring now, but with a cough, Hunk cuts in. 

“Lance, maybe you can go pick us up some lunch. You were just talking earlier about how hungry you are.” 

Lance leans away from Keith at that and even riled up, he can still respect Hunk enough to mutter a “Yeah sure” before exiting the apartment. 

When he returns with three large pizzas (one and a half for Hunk, one for Lance, and a half for Pidge), Keith is gone.

“Geez, what an absolute asshole. You guys didn’t let him sign the contract, right?”

They just look at him.

Lance almost drops his slice of pizza. “You _guys,_ ” he whines.

“We need rent money,” Pidge snips.

**June**

Lance begins to dread June first more than anything. He keeps trying to tell Pidge it’s not too late to evict Keith and even offers to pay for Keith’s portion of the rent. Pidge snorts at that and comments they’ve seen Lance’s bank account and there’s no way he can do that. He texts Allura to complain, but she just tells him that it can’t be that bad. She clearly doesn’t know what it’s like to meet such a colossal asshole, let alone have to end up _living_ with the guy! To share a microwave! A couch! A TV! It’s a gigantic outrage. 

The first thing he says to Keith when he walks into the apartment is “Just so you know, I hate you and we are rivals." 

Keith just glares at that and disappears into his room. _This is going to be a long summer_ , Lance thinks.

As if things couldn’t get worse, Pidge explains that Keith also works in Professor Coran’s lab and that’s why he was looking for an apartment in the first place. And, to add insult to injury, while Hunk and Pidge are part of the engineering team in the lab, Keith and Lance are both part of the biology team so they will, as Professor Coran puts it, “be infecting each other all summer!” Lance groans at this, sneaking a glare at the back of that stupid mullet. 

Keith and Lance both tend to be early risers. Lance does a real-life double take when he stumbles out of his room at 7:00 am to scrounge for breakfast only to find Keith calmly reading on the couch and casually sipping a coffee. He arches an eyebrow when Lance continues to stare, which makes Lance immediately blush and scurry to the kitchen. The next morning, it is Keith who is surprised when he finds Lance watching _Criminal Minds_ at 6:45. After that, it becomes an unspoken competition to see who can get up earlier. It starts with fifteen-minute intervals, Keith retaliating by waking at 6:30, followed by Lance at 6:15, and so forth, and then turns into a gradual minute increase, with Lance up at 5:32 one day and Keith at 5:31 the next. This continues until it becomes too early to actually be bearable. However, because they’re both determined to one-up the other, the competition boils down to seconds, with both of them waking up at 5:15 and scrambling to get to the living room first.

“It’s so weird of you two,” Hunk groans one day. “Like, what’s even the point? You already told me that you guys don’t even acknowledge it.”

“It’s the principle of the matter, Hunk! You don’t understand how absolutely infuriating that guy is! Whenever I’m one second after him I can practically hear his stupid smug voice and stupid smug smile, as if he’s somehow won! He will NEVER win!”

Hunk didn’t even justify that with a response, just sighed slightly and went back to kneading his bread dough. 

Besides the morning competition, they spend most of their time avoiding each other. In the lab, they naturally repel each other toward lab benches at the opposite ends of the laboratory. The few times Coran assigns them to work together, it quickly devolves into a competition of who can work faster, better, harder, until Coran eventually learns it’s better to keep them separate. Hunk and Pidge hang out with Keith, but Lance stays in his room and vice versa. Despite Hunk reassuring Lance that he and Keith would “really get along” and to “just give him a chance,” Lance remains undeterred from his quest to absolutely hate Keith.

That is, until the last week of June, when Pidge announces that there is a Mandatory Apartment Movie night. Keith usually sneaks off on movie nights, going God-knows-where to do God-knows-What, because he knows movie nights are Lance-Hunk-Pidge traditions, but this time Pidge won’t budge. It only takes a well-placed puppy dog eyed look from them to shut up any of Keith’s protests. When Lance tries to later complain, a quick smack to the arm shuts him up. 

And, because the universe appears to hate him, Keith ends up seated next to Lance for the movie. Lance jostles his popcorn as he sits down, and it already sours Keith’s mood.

“Don’t make too much noise during this movie,” Keith spits.

Lance scoffs, his mouth too full of popcorn for a proper retort.

Pidge’s movie choice is one of the longest and least interesting documentaries that Lance or Keith has ever seen. Yet, the tiny engineer is completely enthralled. Their entire body is tense, following the plotline of what Lance thinks is the invention of a gizmo of some sort and it involves some cool gear or whatever. Hunk seems somewhat interested, too, so it must be some part of being in the engineering cult. After the popcorn is gone, Lance finds himself struggling to keep his eyes open and finds his head slowly sinking before he snaps himself back to attention. Eventually, he doesn’t have the will to even do that and allows himself to sink backwards. He’s vaguely aware that whatever he may have leaned back on it pretty warm and smells kind of good, but honestly the combination of the popcorn weighing in his stomach and the endlessly boring facts about whatever the heck doohickey are combination enough for Lance not to care enough to think further before he is completely overcome by sleep.

He wakes up briefly, at least he thinks he does, and vaguely hears Pidge snicker and ask, “Should we take a picture?” but he’s too warm and sleepy to care and ends up fading back again.

When he finally wakes up, he comes too slowly at first, burrowing slightly deeper into the warmth of whatever shoulder he’s leaning on before bolting up, remembering who he was sitting next to the night before and how the shoulder feels distinctly un-Hunk or Pidge like.

“Uh-whaa,” Keith mumbles, disturbed by the sudden lack of warmth. Lance has approximately two seconds to get his shit together before Keith finally cracks his eyes open and looks up. He evidently puts two and two together pretty quickly because it only takes him a second to sit up straight and avert his eyes, blushing furiously.

There is an awkward pause.

“I guess we tied on who got to the living room this morning,” Lance says finally, just hoping to ease the tension. 

Keith huffs a laugh. 

“Hey, uh, thanks for not moving me.” Lance scratches the back of his neck. 

“Yeah,” Keith replies. 

“Why didn’t you?” Lance blurts before he realizes this is not a conversation he should try to continue. 

A pause. “You just looked comfortable.” 

If it’s possible for Keith to get any redder, he does. Lance tries not to notice how incredibly endearing that is because _Keith is his rival,_ but he doesn’t know what to say and he figures it would be kind of a bitchy move to be rude to someone after they let you drool all over their shoulder, so he just sputters out a, “Well, uh, thanks, I guess. At least you didn’t murder me in my sleep.” 

Keith huffs at that and finally looks up. For perhaps the first time, they smile at each other.

**July**

Things change after that. All of them leave for the fourth of July weekend – Lance back to Florida and Hunk accompanying him, Pidge back to Michigan to spend time with her family, and Keith to Los Angeles to visit his brother, Shiro. 

Lance and Hunk bask in the glory that is Lance’s mom’s cooking and get into stupid fights with his siblings. Lance’s little sisters somehow convince Lance to let them give him a makeover, complete with glittery nail polish and eyeshadow. Their neighbors come for a picnic and bring peppers wrapped in bacon and mashed potatoes that are overloaded with cheddar cheese. They set off fireworks in their backyard, which Lance does not burn himself with thank you very much, and they all try their best to see the Disney World fireworks over the buildings.

“That damn mouse should share more,” Lance’s mom remarks, just like she does every year. 

Before they know it, Hunk and Lance are blowing kisses to Lance’s family in the airport terminal, suitcases stuffed more than what they originally landed with, and heading back to San Francisco. And when they burst into the apartment, Lance exclaiming a loud, “HONEY, I’M HOOOOOME!” Keith smiles from his seat on the couch. 

“The entire building now knows you’re home, too.” 

“Oh please, you missed me,” Lance retorts.

Keith shakes his head but doesn’t bite back or deny it the way he usually would. Hunk raises an eyebrow but decides he’s more interested in unpacking than whatever is happening there.

Lance and Keith become somewhat of a duo over the course of the month. Hunk can usually come home to find them curled up on the couch playing some sort of video game or engaged in some sort of movie debate. Pidge often pokes their head into the kitchen only to find them lightly bickering; on one instance they hear Keith insisting he knows how to spread peanut butter more effectively than Lance. They’re still always fighting in some sense, but never with the seriousness of before.

One night, they take a walk. Hunk and Pidge were invited but Hunk has cookies to bake and Pidge said they don’t do exercise, so the two head out into the night.

“What made you come to Garrison University anyway?” Lance starts after a few minutes of wandering in silence.

“My brother, actually. He always wanted to come here, but after he got into a motorcycle accident. He had to take a year off to recover and by then he wasn’t sure if college was really what he wanted anyway. He ended up becoming a motorcycle mechanic, ironically enough.”

“I didn’t know he got into an accident. Is he alright now?”

Keith huffs, “Yeah, yeah. More than alright, he met his fiancée, Adam, and opened his own motor shop. He actually insists on paying for everything college-related for me…but what about you? Garrison University seems like a small school for someone with such a big mouth.”

Lance jabs his ribs for that one, “Hey! You love this big mouth.” He flushes slightly at those implications before hurrying into. “Anyway. Garrison University was the first place I actually left Florida for. And man, I just really wanted to get out of Florida. Because Florida like super, super sucks. Not that I don’t love my family, but geez. I mean, I do miss them a lot, but I have Hunk who is basically family. Which I guess added to me coming here, y'know. When Hunk got accepted too, we knew it was a sign that we had to go. And it’s paid off, I think. I’m glad I got to come here.” 

Keith pauses in step for a second, which makes Lance stop. “I’m glad you came here, too.” 

Usually, Lance would make a bigger deal out of that admission, but something about the softness that Keith says it with makes him hold back. He smiles instead and loops his arm over Keith’s shoulder as they continue walking. They wander for a while into the night, alternating between swapping insults and discussing views on the universe. They keep in step and while Lance realizes he could have removed his arm from Keith’s shoulders a while back. He rationalizes that really, he’s just making sure Keith keeps up with him and it’s easier that they’re walking in step anyway.

“Do you believe in aliens?” Lance asks when they’re about a block from the apartment. 

“Of course,” is the reply with zero hesitations.

Lance huffs a laugh. “Alright then, space boy. What do you think they look like?” 

“What kind of question is that? Have you ever seen Star Wars? Lance, there can’t be just one type of alien race out there.”

“I actually haven’t seen Star Wars,” he admits. “Tell me about them then, describe some.” 

So, Keith does. They wind up on the apartment couch for an hour after they’ve arrived home with Lance just asking Keith to elaborate more and more about the alien races he thinks actually exist. It isn’t until Lance lets out a small yawn that Keith stops short of describing a race he’s dubbed the “Galra.” 

“Sorry, I’m boring you.”

“No, no!!” Lance flails his arms a little. “I like when you talk, I swear, it’s just late.” 

Keith glances at the TV clock, “We should probably head to bed…I do have to get up at 5:15, yknow.” That makes Lance roll his eyes. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked this much,” Keith says as Lance stands. 

“Well, I enjoyed it.” 

“I thought you liked the sound of your own voice more, that’s why you talk so much,” Keith teases. 

Lance lets out another yawn, “Yeah, but I like the sound of your voice, too.”

He doesn’t catch the blush that dots Keith’s cheeks as he trudges to his room.

The next day, Keith slips into Professor Coran’s office before the rest of the lab assistants arrive.

“My dear boy, what can I do for you!” the professor booms, bright orange mustache twitching.

“Uh, I was wondering if I could be with Lance on the plates today?” Keith asks, his hand scratching the back of his neck.

Professor Coran arches an eyebrow, “Sure, my boy. The _M. bovis_ ones could use some attention I suppose.”

“Uh, thanks, Professor. If you could not mention to Lance this was my idea…”

“My lips are sealed, I’m just glad to see you two get along. I’m sure my guidance played a huge part!” 

“Totally, sir.” 

When Lance comes in five minutes later, he doesn’t even bat an eye when Coran asks him to plate with Keith. He just bumps Keith’s hip with his own and tells him to keep up.

**August**

The month changes quietly and the days begin to blur together as the group slips into an established routine. There are long lab days where nothing seems to be working. There are cooking nights where Lance inevitably sets something on fire, and everyone is subsequently kicked out of the kitchen so Hunk can fix it. There are several scattered movie nights accompanied by over buttered popcorn and debates about who the hottest character is. And if Lance tells stupid jokes to cheer Keith up on long lab days, or if Keith smiles fondly whenever Lance burns something instead of yelling at him, or if the two of them always seem to wind up pressed next to each other during a movie, no one mentions anything.

Until, of course, Pidge does. It’s a Wednesday and they’ve all finally been released from the lab. Hunk and Keith went to go pick up the group’s Chinese carry out because Hunk is kind and because Keith wants to make sure his order is actually right this time, so it’s just Pidge and Lance on the walk back to the apartment. 

“So, when are you going to ask out Keith?” 

Lance steps fumble before he regains his composure. “I’m sorry, _what?”_

Pidge rolls their eyes. “Oh please. Dude, you’re obviously into him.”

“Haha, whattt, pshhh, no, Keith and me? I have no idea where in the heck you got that idea. That’s crazy talk, Pidge.” 

They just quirk an eyebrow, “If you say so.” 

Lance wants to protest more, but they’ve already reached the apartment and he can hear Keith and Hunk’s laughter through the door. 

And when Keith greets him with the biggest smile, he can feel the way it trips up the heartbeat in his chest. He can also feel the way Pidge gives him a small, knowing glance. They all pile food onto their plates and then pile onto the couch. Lance can’t focus on whatever movie they’re watching though; he can’t stop thinking about what Pidge said. He turns in early and ignores the slightly confused look Keith gives him.

The rest of the week passes the same way: Lance ducks out of a room almost immediately as Keith enters it. He keeps himself busy and works on individual projects in the lab. He tries instead to concentrate on the fact that Allura is coming to visit on Friday and when she arrives, he spends his time dragging her around the city and actively avoiding the apartment. Pidge and Hunk accompany them on some excursions but wind up heading back to the apartment before Lance does every time. Allura doesn’t comment or mind, used to years of Lance’s endless energy and happy to be able to spend time one on one after being apart. 

It isn’t until Sunday night that Lance actually sees Keith. He arrives back at the apartment from dropping Allura at her hotel room and saying his goodbye before she leaves the next day and Keith is posted on the couch. _Almost like he was waiting for me,_ Lance thinks. Hunk and Pidge are likely asleep, the doors to their respective rooms closed and dark. 

Keith looks up at Lance and keeps looking. Lance looks back. They don’t say anything but don’t drop eye contact either. Keith looks tired and almost confused. 

_Where have you been?_ His eyes seem to say. _What did I do wrong? I don’t understand._

 _I’m sorry,_ Lance tries to convey back, _I miss you._

It’s five minutes before Keith finally seems to work up the nerve to speak and opens his mouth, but before he can, Lance cuts in. 

“I’m really tired,” Lance says and turns towards his room before Keith can even reply. But he catches the final unmistakably hurt look Keith shoots him.

Lance can’t focus on Monday. It’s like his entire body itches and Pidge’s _you’re obviously into him_ keeps bouncing around his head and that look that Keith gave him is permanently pressed into his eyeballs. Is he actually obvious? Who else knows? Why did he look like that last night? Does Keith know? That last thought makes Lance mortified enough to want to take a one-way skyrocket into space and never see a single person ever again. 

It only gets worse when Keith is assigned to help him count the bacteria plates. He’s so close and he smells so good and every muscle in Lance’s body wants to run. Keith, for his part, is pretending like whatever weird eye-conversation they had yesterday didn’t happen and is attempting to be as normal as possible. They’re able to relatively function as a team until Keith tells some off handed joke, one that Lance doesn’t catch because he’s too busy trying _not to freak out_. He’s laughing at his own stupid joke and it’s so cute that Lance is internally exploding. And when Keith bumps hips with him in jest and says, “What, I thought you would like that one!” is when it snaps.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Lance yells, his hands immediately flying to his mouth. It’s sudden and the whole lab seems to stop. Keith’s eyes are wide and utterly confused. No one says anything until Professor Coran pops his head out of the office and observes the scene.

“Lance, I think it would be best if you took the rest of today off,” Professor Coran says with the distinct tone that this is not a request, but an order.

It is Allura that ultimately comes back to the apartment to find Lance curled up on the corner of their sofa. She sits on the other end.

“I thought you were heading home,” he says.

“I heard you had a work-related incident today.”

Lance groans. “Hunk?”

“Hunk,” she confirms.

“I didn’t mean to. Fuck. I don’t even know where it came from.” 

She turns to face him now, “Look, I don’t want to pry, but what happened? I want to hear it from you.”

He ducks his head, “It’s stupid. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Stupid Pidge said something about Keith to me and it’s been putting me on edge, y'know.”

“What did they say?” 

“Just implied that, uh, I may like Keith and that basically everyone knows about it.”

“And?” 

“And what?” 

“Were they right?” 

He’s too embarrassed to make eye contact. “Maybe.”

“You should ask him out, then!”

His head shoots up at that one. “There’s no way I can do that.”

Allura furrows her brow, “Why not? You like him. You’ve been pining for months, don’t give me that look, the second you told me about 'stupid, murderer, mullet headed Keith' I knew you were gone. You clearly are close and mean something to each other. Lance, just help me understand what the actual issue is here.”

Lance sighs, “I just. I – I can’t.” He pauses. “I don’t date people I can’t stand to lose” he finishes quietly. 

Allura fixes him with an intense stare, and just simmers in the silence for a moment waiting for him to continue. 

“Like, what if it doesn’t actually work? What if I hurt him, or he hurts me? Or what if we’re not actually good for each other? Or what if he’s not actually interested in me and is just pretending? Or what if he walks too loudly or we always bump teeth when we kiss or he doesn’t like the sight of my bedhead in the morning or the way I always sing in the shower or that I can’t make grilled cheese right and he’ll always wonder if there’s someone who can make grilled cheese better or he realizes that I’m not actually -” He stops suddenly, hands rubbing his face, a sigh, “Look, Allura, I just. I want to keep Keith around and if being friends is all we can be then I can deal with it. I will deal with it. I’m not going to lose him because I couldn’t contain a stupid crush or because I couldn’t be the boyfriend he deserves.” 

He doesn’t look up when he finishes, but Allura’s gaze is burrowing into him. They sit like that for a while, the stillness of the moment weighing something. She moves after a few minutes to sit next to him on the couch and tucks her arm around his curled-up figure.

“It is not always easy to love ourselves, but I think you need to give yourself more credit. You are one of the most incredibly caring and wonderful people I know, and you will always be more than anyone deserves. I will support you in whatever decision you make with Keith, and you know Hunk and Pidge will, too. But as your friend, I have to say, so what? Maybe it won’t work out but entertain the thought that maybe it will. We can’t predict the future. Just ask yourself: can you really carry on without knowing just because you never tried?” She pauses. “You may not feel brave, Lance, but I know you are.” 

She gives his shoulder a final squeeze and stands up. “I’m going to go to the lab now to say goodbye to the others before I actually head back to Altea. I’m only a text away if you need anything.”

There is a pause before Lance finally looks up at her, still more subdued than usual. He sighs slightly and gives a stiff nod. “Don’t crash on the way back. Or else.” 

She quirks a smile and ruffles his hair before turning to leave.

Lance doesn’t know how long afterwards he continues to just sit curled up on the couch. Hunk is the first to come home. He doesn’t say anything, just pulls Lance into his arms and turns on the TV. Lance instantly relaxes into Hunk’s side. Pidge is the second, they take in the Hunk-Lance scene and release a small smile before retreating to their room. Keith comes home last, almost an hour after Pidge. He doesn’t even look into the living room, just makes a beeline for his own room and shuts the door as quickly as possible. Lance pretends not to notice.

It isn’t until the sun has finally set and they’re at least twelve episodes into the new season of _Nailed It_ that Hunk speaks.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you or Keith, but I do know I care about you both. It’s been weird all week and you owe him an apology.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Hunk gives him a small squeeze and they don’t exchange any other words. Lance eventually falls asleep and Hunk carefully carries him to his own bed.

There is a big difference between knowing and doing, though. Lance and Keith continue to tiptoe around each other again. In the lab, Professor Coran has gone back to keeping them separate. It almost feels like the first month of knowing each other, but this time there are no fighting words or random jabs or eye rolls. In fact, there’s virtually nothing. Whenever Keith sees Lance coming, he immediately scurries away. He’s also rarely in the apartment now and seems to have developed some sort of sixth sense for when Lance is trying to find him. He doesn’t come to movie night, which Hunk and Pidge don’t directly address, but Lance knows they’re hurt from the way they look at the extra popcorn. 

Finally, after two weeks, when they have only a month of this summer left, Lance decides it’s long past time. Keith is out and Lance really doesn’t know when he’ll be back, so he camps out on the couch and uses it as an excuse to finally watch the Star Wars movies. It takes up until midway through the Revenge of the Sith (and to put this out there, Hayden Christian and Natalie Portman could both _get it_ in Lance’s opinion) for Keith to finally enter. He looks slightly confused to see Lance but ducks his head and starts towards his room.

“Wait.” 

Keith pauses. 

“Wait, I just...please come sit. Or I don’t know, keep standing. Just, hear me out, please.” 

After a few seconds, it doesn’t appear Keith is moving, his back still towards Lance, but Lance chooses to take it as a sign to continue. 

He runs his hands through his hair. “Look, it has come to my attention that I may have been a huge idiot, like forreal, and a huge douche, too.” Keith remains in place. “And, that’s not fair to you and I haven’t been fair to you. And ugh, frick, heck, you know I’m not good with words and I guess what I’m ultimately trying to say is that I figured out that I like you, well, I didn’t Pidge did for me, and then had a whole then freak out and like man it just was not your fault but I was freaked and I know you probably don’t reciprocate and like that’s totally cool and chill because I’m totally cool and chill but we have a week left here and man, I just miss you, okay? But I couldn't be around you because it kinda hurt but also it was just so confusing and I wanted to not like lose you or our friendship, but I guess that happened anyway...so, yeah, I just miss you and being around you and whatever, and yeah.” 

“Repeat that.” 

Lance looks to see that Keith is facing him now. “Uh, which part, because those were a lot of words.” 

“The important part.” 

“Uh, um, uh - I messed up? I’m bad with words? I’ve been a d-bag?” 

“All true, but no. The other part.” 

“Uh. Um. I like you?” 

“I like you, too, idiot.” 

“Oh,” Lance says. 

“Yeah.” Keith says. 

“But, you shouldn’t.” 

Keith furrows his brow. “What?” 

“Like, what if we don’t date well or I’m bad at cuddling or being a boyfriend? Won’t I embarrass you at every restaurant and, fuck, I know I have a big mouth and I may need to shut up a little more, but I can’t stop thinking like what if you end up hating me or hate my taste in movies or I never get better at video games or I laugh too loud and everyone looks at us or what if you realize there are cooler, better people who don’t always hog the popcorn or - ” 

“ _Lance_.” 

“...what?” 

But there are no words, there is only Keith walking over to the couch and cupping Lance’s face. 

“I like you,” he states, and then, Keith is kissing him. It only takes a moment before Lance kisses back. It only lasts a moment, but they’re both slightly breathless. 

“I’m so glad you didn’t turn out to be a murderer.” 

“Oh, shut up.” 

**Author's Note:**

> that's all folks.  
> thinking of writing this from keith's perspective, too. we shall see.
> 
> ps: i'm not in love with the title, so it will probably change.


End file.
